I think so too. Look at the training involved in the musician versus the athlete. I think even more training is required for the musician. And yes, if you are not breaking into a sweat after one of Chopin's 'biggies' then I don't know...

_________________"Simplicity is the highest goal, achievable when you have overcome all difficulties." ~ Frederic Chopin

No. Playing an instrument requires physical skill like sports do but to be a great instrumentalist also requires an inward emotional involvement with the activity that is not found in sports, where any emotional distraction from the physical feat can lead to instant failure. In playing music this emotional involvement is nessacary to convey the spirit/character of the music, thought it can also cause technical breakdowns and mishaps if not channeled properly. So while on the surface it seems that piano playing and sport are the same this aspect of the emotional involvement or "soul" if you will creates a definite boundary between the two. Of course a good instrumentalist must be "pumped up" like an athlete and in control of the physical actions required, and take that "let's do it" attitude into performances the way that athletes take it into a game.

However we do have the option as pianists to be "golfers" (soloists) or team players if we playing bands or chamber ensembles. Seems that most of us are soloists at our core though.

Last edited by arensky on Fri Jan 05, 2007 5:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.

first compare the salarys of athletes and musicians...
next, compare the skill/training required to be a famous musician than a famous athlete...
that's about all I can say without getting too irritated with what people pay for these days. so no, I would not drag music down to the level of mere 'sport'.

There is a crucial difference here. In sport, results can be measured, and only one can be the best. If you are the best, whatever the sport or game is, you will be rich and famous. In music, there are hardly any measurements, and if there are, they are irrelevant.

As Joe rightly hints at, there are many fine musicians with impressive credentials who are literally scraping a living. By contrast, anybody who can do anything at all a hundred of a second faster than the rest of the world will get showered in money and fame. Indeed something to get irritated about, and a sign of how strange the world appreciates human achievement, and mistakes skill for talent.

Piano playing, a sport? To me, not at all, except maybe when I practice piano technique alone. In my case, music comes from the heart and goes back to the heart (thanks Ludwig). Even if I play a very difficult piece, it's much more about living through or rendering an emotional event than a sport event.

I don't care about the pyrotechnics or pure technical ability of a rendering or piece, I want to feel the emotion of it. If it's only perfect mechanically without emotion, then it's just a sport, it's not good piano.

Well In Ireland, I believe they consider dance to be a sport. Dance is also an artform too.

I consider piano to be a sport becuase it involves physical practice. A pianist must "exercise" and train the way an athlete does: They strenthen their fingers, arm muscles and such. It involves physical motion all the way.

I am not an athlete but my father and I used to play basketball together. We would "practice" our hoops and all that good stuff and get our technique down. Then, we would engage in a friendly game (or performance as musicians do). I can tell you it is not like playing piano. However, when I played basketball, not only did it involve physical movement and skill, but emotion as well. If it didn't, I would not have the drive to "play the game".

So on that note, LOL, I believe piano is indeed a sport, a difficult one but a sport.

Now I am in the mood to shoot some hoops. Unfortunately, it is 10pm over here in NY!

_________________Jennifer M. Castellano

"Use what talents you possess: the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best." --Henry Van Dyke

I voted no. Of course the physical and mental exercise is obvious but for me a sport always has a competitive nature, even if the only goal is to break your own record. I consider chess and checkers a sport, and even some (online) videogames.

Piano Competitions (or other music cometitions for that matter) might be considered sports from that perspective, but I think they suck, exactly because of this.

This competitive nature is something that should not belong in music at all in my opinion.

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